Channeling the Voice of Customer to Monetize Web, PR and Social Media

Posted on August 31, 2011 by rgeller

The following post was written by Tony Grass, President, e-Market Intelligence Voc

We all hear about the advantages of social media, and most companies invest in Web content and PR. All too often, however, these efforts can be time, money and resource drains that don’t have clear payback goals, structure or ROI measurement. This is where sales software comes in, just look at how to use Clickfunnels for example.

In a challenging economy, businesses need a common sense way to tie efforts back to leads, converted sales and profits. The following 3 step process gives a clear strategy for monetizing social media, Web content and PR efforts.(Note: The Fusion and e-Market Intelligence teams are running an Executive Workshop in two weeks that will show how customer-centric marketing works, with demos and consults for each attendee).

Flip the Sales Funnel

Sales funnels involve scattershot efforts to generate leads “by the pound.” This can actually cost you sales, because you can’t choose the greatest number of prospects you can best sell to, or know exactly which products, features and benefits to offer.

Flipping the funnel means starting out by targeting your best prospects by what they are already searching for – and then using the intelligence gained to generate multiple streams of qualified, saleable and profitable inbound leads via integrated Web, social media and PR.

Social media typically involves posting topics and hoping to build a following. All too often, PR is an unfocused exercise in blasting pitches and press releases to the broadest audiences, and hoping that some of it sticks. Many strive for improved search engine rankings; however it is not always clear how to customer-optimize Web content for the best results.

Flipping the funnel means tuning into the voice of the customer, selecting the prospects that are already interested, and posting messages of your unique value targeted to their interests. It means generating traffic from prospects who are already searching for what you offer, and through targeted media and influencers that are aligned with the most profitable segments. Understanding this type of targeted and personalized promotion and how to go about it can be difficult, especially when it seems there are easier marketing methods out there. However, with the help of SheerID, you’ll be personalizing your marketing tactics in no time. This flip to customer-centric marketing lets you monetize social media, PR and Web efforts and content in 3 steps:

  1. Get a 60,0000 foot view of all your markets, choose the customer groups with the best numbers, and target them by the keywords they are using in their searches. Set up optimized micro sites that map to customer interests and needs
  2. Keyword and link your social media posts and PR content to the pages of your website that feature what the customers’ interests describe.
  3. Post messages that are of value to your chosen customers on the social media pages, networks, Twitter streams and blogs they are using, and by getting the attention and coverage of key media and influencers.

Please stay tuned to the next installment of this series, which will go into more detail about how to channel the Voice of the Customer for more leads and sales. Also, seats for the 9/15 workshop here in New York are filling fast, please click on the following link to register and attend.

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Witty, Sarcastic, Informative? Finding the Right Voice on Twitter

Posted on August 26, 2011 by rgeller

Marshall McLuhan famously stated that the medium is the message, this is very relevant for the worlds of communications and PR. Just like in fashion, where styles change over the seasons, modes of communication change.

It is important to master different media forms as each has its nuances – the carrier of the message can have an impact on tone, style, imagery and pace. These in turn have an effect on how your message is received and can either work for or against you.

As one example, the 1960 presidential election debates showed an unshaven, sweating Nixon, tilting the balance to the telegenic JFK and demonstrating the power of TV.

Major networks and media dominated for latter part of the last century, and provided a platform for formal, top down communications. More recently social media emerged, challenging other forms of media and encouraging a more informal style. Blogs, the original social media, have ceded ground to social networks and Twitter. People are increasingly relying on these last two for news and information delivered via short form, unfiltered Tweets and status updates.

I wrote about some of the PR challenges that can come with Twitter. More recently I have noted some cases which make me think that it can sometimes help to be a little sarcastic or antagonistic when you are tweeting in support of a company or brand.

Two that were in the news in sports and tech made some people in the PR field scratch their heads in wonderment; yet the tactics were well received and covered in the media – no harm, no foul I guess, we all live and learn and ideally adapt.

In the first, which I heard about via Twitter, of course – the Journal wrote that Pat Henlon, the PR guy for the giants was talking trash over Twitter with some demoralized fans. See below:

The Giants also fired back in that placid, well-reasoned asteroid field of opinion, Twitter. Summoning his inner Don Rickles, team public-relations maestro Pat Hanlon zinged back at fans slamming the club’s offseason torpor. Hanlon tweaked one commenter as a “knucklehead” and used a couple of words that aren’t a big deal on HBO’s “Hard Knocks” but might get you in trouble in this newspaper.

When someone suggested that the 2011 Giants were worse “on paper,” Hanlon shot back: “We don’t play on paper. You know what you can do w/ that paper?”

Too much? Too uncharacteristic, too un-Giant-like? I liked Hanlon mixing it up on Twitter. If you’re going to be on Twitter, embrace the Twitter. Get in there, get greasy, throw your elbows around. Don’t embarrass yourself or employer, but real-time conflict is expected, encouraged, celebrated. Hanlon engaged, and didn’t offer stale PR autopilot. That may not be the Giant way, but it is the Twitter way.

Also, more recently, the Journal covered Michael Dell’s rants in the wake of HP’s recent moves to divest its PC business and shut down WebOS.  Here is an excerpt:

On Thursday, the billionaire computer executive took to Twitter, unleashing a handful of pointed tweets at competitor Hewlett-Packard Co. Prompting the abuse: H-P’s announcement earlier in the day that it would try to spin off its PC business, much of which it bought from Compaq Computer Corp. in 2002.

“If H-P spins off their PC business,” Mr. Dell tweeted, “Maybe they will call it Compaq?”

Mr. Dell has a reasonable audience for his tech-related epigrams — his “verified” Twitter account boasts 21,699 followers…

“They call it a separation,” Mr. Dell tweeted. “But it feels like a divorce.”

Mr. Dell has also used social media to interact with customers with laptop troubles, as well as comment on tech trends. One tweet celebrated the 30th anniversary of the PC. Mr. Dell sometimes uses smiley faces and exclamation points. Still, Mr. Dell has a history of making snide comments about his competition.

Posted in In the News, PR Tech | 1 Comment

New Tracx Features are Truly Earth Shaking

Posted on August 24, 2011 by rgeller

Asaf Shtekler of Tracx stopped by our offices in New York to catch up on things yesterday and tell me more Index about new functionality.  Readers of this blog may recall the post that I wrote about Tracx back in March (Tracx helps you Start Making Social Media Sense – and ROi Dollars).

Tracx is a powerful hosted solution for planning and managing all aspects of social media relationships, communications programs and campaigns.

At any rate, he was halfway through the presentation (which obviously riveted me, because it escaped my notice that our building was swaying back and forth) when Asaf stopped and said “What is that? I think we’re having an earthquake.”

I looked at him, he looked at me, and then I looked out my window 9 floors up in Times Square.  It was obvious that Asaf was correct.  The building was shaking, it was very noticeable – for example I could see the water in a glass on my desk sloshing around.

A moment of panic ensued and I thought: OK, now what?  I fully expected that bricks might soon start falling.  Luckily, the whole thing lasted for just 30 seconds or so.  I saw news reports and Twitter buzz later that confirmed that it was, in fact, an earthquake.

All kidding aside (Asaf swore in an email later that neither he nor the software were responsible) Tracx is a very solid system.  Check out the new features (see below for the list that they sent out yesterday).

We are pleased to be working with the Tracx software and team.  I plan to demo some of its capabilities in an upcoming seminar (on September 15th, here in New York).  We will cover customer centric marketing, and how to earn ROI via integrated social media, Web and PR.

Google Analytics: Capture social engagement and traditional web metrics all in one place. Our Google Analytics integration pushes extra data to your existing activities, giving you more insights into your social traffic. Compare traffic metrics against the level of social buzz and see how activity on Twitter, Facebook, and other social networks, drives traffic to your client’s sites.

Facebook Insights Provides New Ways to Analyze Social Data: Now you can easily monitor all your Facebook pages from one dashboard. The new Facebook Insights module allows you to identify trends, see interactions on your Facebook pages, and directly compare this activity to other social and website variables.

Geo-Location is Here: Using tracx’s geo-location feature, you can now see the location of each individual post, view your audience’s heat map, and understand your top performing locations in the Brand Overview report. Keep your eyes out for more geo-location features coming very soon.

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Abercrombie & Fitch Lob Grenade at Jersey Shore Cast

Posted on August 19, 2011 by rgeller

Ah, the delicate and complicated dance between journalism and PR. We tempt them with our pitches. We Jersey-shore-cast run campaigns, events and sometimes stunts to get their attention and coverage. Many journalists say they are beyond our influence and ignore our pitches and campaigns. Yet every once in awhile, the temptation is just too great.

This was the case yesterday, when many covered a light story, one that provided welcome relief to late summer doldrums and "hold your head" headlines about the economy.

I grinned as I read several articles about an Abercrombie & Fitches press release that explained that the company would pay the Jersey Shore show cast not to wear their clothes. The company had executed a brilliant campaign, and the media were all over itt.  For example, it got covered in not one but two Wall Street jorunal articles, and a NY Tmes piece.

And it wasn't just the media that were having fun with it. The NY Times story – Abercrombie wants off  'Jersey Shore' (Wink-Wink) – mentioned that the A & F CEO interrupted a quarterly earnings call witFitchh Wall Street analysts, incredulous that they wanterd to discuss other things:

“Is no one going to ask about the Situation?” Mr. Jeffries, the chief executive, asked after a series of questions about Abercrombie’s finances and strategy. Finally, an analyst did, and Mr. Jeffries explained the background. 

Of course, the media need to let everyone know that they are in on the joke, as the "wink wink" headline in the Times indicated. And they all had to seemingly justify their coverage by interjecting real world concerns. The article in the Journal's Money & Investing section, of all places, raised the real issue of brands getting tarnished through association with the wrong crowds:

It appears Abercrombie is merely trying to stir up publicity. After all, the company last year sold a Tshirt printed with the words "The Fitchuation," an obvious reference to the star of the reality show nicknamed "The Situation."

But brand image isn't all fun and games. Flashback 10 years to England, where Burberry clothing and accessories became the uniform of certain hard-partying young Brits. Sales in England were very weak by 2005, when Burberry acknowledged that the brash new customers had alienated some of its higher-end traditional shoppers. Tommy Hilfiger had a similarly unpleasant experience in the U.S. in the 1990s, when it became a hip-hop staple that no longer clicked with preppies.

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Nordstrom NY Move: Charity, Good PR, Confusion?

Posted on August 17, 2011 by rgeller

The NY Times wrote yesterday about upscale department store Nordstrom’s move into New York City. Img_2235 JG

Many retailers view NY as a key market and a window to the world. So they launch here with extravagant concept stores that seem to be more about getting attention than profits. At the other end of the spcectrum, some launch with pop-up stores that are here today and gone tomorrow.

However Nordstrom is going a different route altogether. As the NY Times wrote:

After flirting for years with a move into New York City, Nordstrom is opening a full-priced store in Manhattan. But the store will not have Nordstrom in its name, or even feel like a Nordstrom. Called Treasure & Bond, the new store will open Friday in SoHo and will be less than a tenth the size of a typical Nordstrom department store. In fact, it is a big experiment that will not even contribute to Nordstrom’s bottom line, as the profits have been committed to charity.

Is their move good business, good charity, good PR or just plain confusing? Although fashion is not my forte (please hold sarcastic comments), I am a PR specialist and have written about and helped clients with corporate social responsibility and cause marketing campaigns – I must say they have me stunped.

A top executive explained their thinking (from the article):

“[the] Treasure & Bond name gave Nordstrom leeway, he said. “It allows us to be way more nimble and to learn,” he said. “If we opened something like this, and had it be Nordstrom in some way, it would end up disappointing – people would show up and say, ‘What’s this?’ ” He said the company viewed it as an incubator – if a T-shirt line sold well, Nordstrom might sell it in regular stores. “While our name isn’t all over it, I think people are going to know that we helped hatch it,” he said. “That would create a glow, not only for this store but for Nordstrom, that’s positive in Manhattan.”

As the article pointed out, another potential area of confusion is that flash sale website Gilt Group launched a men’s fashion site earlier this month called Park & Bond.

Come to Brooklyn for Gilt-free Women Fashion Bargains

Speaking of novel retail concepts, and Gilt, the company that put the flash in flash sale websites, I recently learned about a new store called Juniper Galaxy in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn. It seems to be a Gilt-like concept at the retail store level. Juniper Galaxy offers great prices on top name women’s (and soon children’s) brands as owner Sine Hjort explained to me. If you are in Brooklyn you should stop by and check it out (see store window photo above).

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Standard & Poor Steals Headlines with “Ratings Hatchet”

Posted on August 9, 2011 by rgeller

They must really think there is no such thing as bad PR. Hatchet

No sooner did we get past the debt ceiling limit fight in Washington – a battle that left us all exhausted, but relieved that it was finally over – than we woke up to news that the Standard & Poor had downgraded U.S. debt, which sent markets reeling and left us all shocked. Wasn't this the very thing we were trying to avoid?

The Journal wrote a nice story yesterday that documented the moments leading up to the downgrade. It has the elements of a political thriller and PR case study, including details about a press release that Standard & Poor shared in advance with the Obama administration, which included a $2 trillion miscalculation, and how both sides wasted no time in launching campaigns, taking to the airwaves to tell their sides and win credibility points.

Paul Krugman wrote in the SundayTimes about S & P's incredible chutzpah:

If there’s a single word that best describes the rating agency’s decision to downgrade America, it’s chutzpah… America’s large budget deficit is, after all, primarily the result of the economic slump that followed the 2008 financial crisis. And S.& P., along with its sister rating agencies, played a major role in causing that crisis, by giving AAA ratings to mortgage-backed assets that have since turned into toxic waste.

And the NY Post reported that S & P took a "ratings hatchet" to Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway yesterday, "less than 48 hours after the Oracle of Omaha publicly blasted [it]."

These guys at S & P know how to steal a headline. Do they have any other icons to slay? Just what are they smoking over there?

Posted in Current Affairs | 2 Comments

Turning the PR Clip Book into a Digital Show Case

Posted on August 5, 2011 by rgeller

I posed a question awhile back on this blog the state of the PR clip book, and suggested that it was time to update this PR staple (or relic, as some might argue).

I came back to the topic a couple of times on Social Fluency, and am pleased to report some progress. Kelsey Judd helped us explore the potential of the iPad coupled with Flipboard to turn a stale and static clip book into a dynamic showcase.

Check out her post, which shares the details. We will be looking at other tablets, Web-based solutions and apps, so please stay tuned.

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Indian Point PR Campaign may pit Cuomo vs. Giuliani

Posted on August 4, 2011 by rgeller

For a PR person who loves to follow politics and lives in Northern Westchester County, NY, it just doesn't 420x316-alg_indian_point get any better.

The NY Times reported today that Indian Point nuclear plant owner Entergy is in talks with former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani about a PR campaign to counter negative public perception, setting up a potential battle with the Governor:

The Entergy Corporation, the operator of the two reactors at Indian Point, which generate as much as 30 percent of New York City’s power, has been in talks with Mr. Giuliani about headlining a major advertising campaign aimed at allaying public concerns about the facility’s safety. The campaign would effectively pit Mr. Giuliani, an erstwhile Republican presidential candidate, against the governor, a Democrat.

Indian Point has been a sore point for people who live in the area. I understand the argument that it would be difficult to replace this source of power, and fears may be overblown. Yet the recent earthquake in Japan, which brought a nuclear plant close to meltdown, seems to have driven a fresh round of questions and scrutiny here in NY. And anyone from the area who is familiar with the emergency planning and evacuation procedures knows that these are jokes.

Andrew Cuomo, who by most accounts got off to a good start as NY Governor and seems to have the wind at his back, has voiced his opposition to Indian Point.

Giualini and Cuomo are two NY-based super-sized egos that fascinate and sometimes confound many people, myself included. I have greatly admired both men at various times, and have also been in irritated by them (although if I were to pick one for this campaign and in general it would have to be Cuomo).

It will be interesting to watch this battle unfold, as I am sure the media will be all over this.

(I thank my friend and ace photographer Steve Lesnick for pointing this article out).

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Above the FUD: Keeping PR Clean when the Tactics Get Dirty

Posted on July 27, 2011 by rgeller

If you travel in tech circles, you may know what FUD is – no, not the slushy gunk that gets stuck under your No_FUD car grill in the winter, rather it stands for Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt. Wikipedia defines FUD as “an attempt to influence public perception by disseminating negative and dubious/false information designed to undermine credibility.” The label has its roots in the tech industry.

If you have been in tech PR for awhile, chances are that at one time or another a client has tried to involve you in their FUD wars, or asked you to do something that just doesn’t sit right. Perhaps they wanted the PR team to plant negative or false stories (a client once asked me to sniff around a competitor’s booth at a trade show to collect intelligence, and to lie about it if asked). Closely related, is when the client asks for overly aggressive media tactics, things that you know will be counterproductive.

These situations pose all kinds of questions and ethical dilemmas. After all, isn’t your obligation to the client? Aren’t we advocates that, just like lawyers, take the guilty and not so nice clients, and do our level best to defend them and advance their interests? On the other hand, do we want to be dragged down into the dirt – and doesn’t the dirt tarnish our own reputations?

Now that the PR field has had a chance to think about and get past the Facebook PR fiasco of months ago (in which the company hired a PR firm to spread negative info about Google, see the Ragan’s PR daily article on this), I thought it might be a good time to look at ways of doing a great job and doing right by clients without getting tarnished, by offering these tips on how to keep your heads high and stay above the FUD amidst vendor wars and the dirty pool that is sometimes involved.

Keep Cool and Keep Your Perspective

Always remember that clients’ battles are not ours. Agencies are independent; after all, the client hired us because we are experts and because of our media relationships.  Although it is great to be counted on as a close and trusted advisor, remember, too, that we are supposed to be objective counselors who stay above the fray of internal politics and external score settling.

Let the Client Know that FUD is Just not Good Business and Not Good PR

I have found that FUD becomes more of a problem when PR is overly influenced by sales, an area that encourages aggression and hardball tactics (I was in sales before PR, so I know what I am talking about).

You may need to remind an overeager client about the following facts:

  1. Reporters do not enjoy being used to as pawns to advance vendor’s interests; the FUD campaign could jeopardize the collective efforts to build positive equity with the media and thus not best serve the long term goals of the PR program.
  2. As we saw with Facebook, there is a good chance that the tactics will be outed and the campaign will blow up in their faces

Turn to Management for Cover

At the first signs that the client will expect something that does not pass the “sniff test,” you should not hesitate to involve agency management. They can help you make the above arguments, and also let the client know that there are industry guidelines against unethical practices.

Does all this mean there is not room for a little hardball in PR? Isn’t it a little naive to think that we can remain totally above the fray of our client’s marketing wars? This is not just a question about ethics. E.g. the lapse of the PR team in the above-mentioned scandal (at least, according to PR industry ethical guidelines) was to hide their client’s name, which can lead one to assume that it might be “okay” to sling mud if you do share the client’s name.

It is not a black or white issue, there is no single right answer; it gets back to the style of PR that you want to practice, and what you and your agency brand stand for. Agencies need to make clear to employees what is acceptable (and what is not); and you as an employee or job seeker need to make sure that this sits right with you.

(By the way, the subject of PR and ethics is a hot topic right now, and I would be remiss if I did not point people to Heather Yaxley’s excellent and very detailed post this week on PR Conversations: PR is what PR Does – A Question of Ethics).

Posted in PR | 3 Comments

News Corp. Goons Provide PR “Protection”

Posted on July 22, 2011 by rgeller

My post yesterday countered the idea some people have The_Goon_Colors_by_Zatransisthat PR corrupts the journalism process. But can    journalism corrupt PR?

The question kind of reminds me of an old joke, which I will retell with new players:

Question: What is the difference between a PR rep and a journalist?

Answer: One is sleazy fixer that works on the "dark side" the other tries to get their clients in the news.

Ba dum! (please hold the applause)

Wait, I am not finished:

Question: How do you make the field of PR, which many don't understand, or trust, seem even sketchier?

Answer: Get News Corp. involved.

The News Corp. mess seems to be a never-ending affair that gets more lurid and just plain weirder by the day. This week alone we heard about the Murdochs' appearances before the British Parliament, replete with a pie throwing incident, a dead body found … and that was just the past couple of days.. It is ever- expanding, bringing a wider mix of institutions and characters into its ugly embrace.

PR has entered the fray, along with UK Prime Minister David Cameron, who hired an ex World editor as his communications chief, as was covered early on. The Journal wrote yesterday on this, and about another similar situation involving Scotland Yard:

Cameron Defends Handling of Crisis: U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron faced a barrage of accusations in Parliament on Wednesday over his relationship with News Corp. and his former communications chief, Andy Coulson, a key figure in the phone-hacking scandal that continues to inflict damage on the British leader…Mr. Cameron has been repeatedly drawn into this scandal through Mr. Coulson, who was arrested this month, but not charged, amid the hacking investigation. Mr. Coulson had resigned from News of the World in 2007 when one of his reporters went to jail for intercepting voice mails.

Police Face Questions: Two of Britain's most senior police officers denied to British lawmakers that they had a tight relationship with the U.K. arm of News Corp., but expressed regret at the police's handling of the phone-hacking scandal that has claimed them both among its biggest casualties.

Kicking off the day's high-profile parliamentary hearings, departing Metropolitan Police Commissioner Paul Stephenson said that he was unaware of connections between a police public-relations adviser and the media giant's now-closed News of the World.

The PR adviser, Neil Wallis, is former deputy editor of the News of the World and is at the center of the allegations over the alleged cozy relationship between Scotland Yard and the weekly tabloid.

The journey from journo to PR is a well traveled one; the big question is, was this really about PR or about buying "protection" from the tabloids?

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